Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
A new management team has taken over the running of LIAT as part-owner BWIA West Indies Airways tries to implement a co-operative tie-up in a last- ditch effort to keep the bankrupt West Indian carrier afloat.
LIAT's new chief executive Garry Cullen, former Aer Lingus chief operating officer, faces a tough challenge to turn the Antigua-based carrier around. It has struggled to put a Speedwing restructuring plan into effect which will require staff redundancies.
LIAT's future survival may now be threatened by competition from local start-up Caribbean Star and St Lucia-based Eastern Caribbean Express, backed by Air Jamaica (Flight International, 11-17 April. P12). BWIA, which owns 29% of LIAT, has meanwhile offered the carrier a lifeline in the form of a regional co-operation deal. Until recently, collaboration had been undermined by mutual distrust and as a result, BWIA established its own local feeder BWee Express. "For the first time LIAT has to make a decision about a relationship with BWIA because it faces new contenders and its shareholders are not willing to put in more money. Our management is convinced that both of us have to give," says BWIA president Conrad Aleong.
BWIA has offered to make LIAT its regional feed into its Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad hubs, but wants the carrier to cut its fleet from 12 to nine leased Bombardier Dash 8-300s. The carrier in return would redeploy BWee's own three Dash 8-300s to longer-haul destinations such as Guyana and Venezuela.
With another Trinidad and Tobago-based carrier Air Caribbean struggling to survive, BWIA is looking to bolster its short-haul fleet to fill the gap. "We're actively talking to Bombardier about bringing in another one or two Dash 8s," says Aleong.
BWIA has taken delivery of a third new Boeing 737-800 on lease from International Lease Finance, with the fourth due in July and the final two by December.
Source: Flight International
